


For the Sake of the Clan

by LupineCrown (Wolf_of_Lilacs)



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-05 05:49:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15857484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolf_of_Lilacs/pseuds/LupineCrown
Summary: "Sunstar is no longer watching Thistleclaw; as their eyes meet, one of his ears twitches. Bluefur has no idea what it means."AU where Sunstar never intended to make Thistleclaw deputy. For Bluefur, it didn't have to be a binary choice.





	For the Sake of the Clan

**Author's Note:**

> My first completed Warriors fic, after so many years. And nine years after _Bluestar's Prophecy_ , this still pisses me off.

The wind bites through Bluefur's thick gray pelt. She tucks her tail behind her front paws on a cleared patch of ground, watching her frolicking kits for any signs of overexposure. The rest of the Clan pads about, minding their own business. Thrushpelt entertains the kits with occasional snowballs. Featherwhisker and Spottedpaw chat amiably outside their den. White-eye takes a nap in the nursery entrance, Runningkit and Mousekit using her back intermittently as a spring board.

Tawnyspots and Sunstar share tongues across the clearing from where Bluefur hunches, both appearing somewhat rueful. "I'm sorry," Bluefur hears Tawnyspots mew. "My retirement would be at a bad time."

"Don't worry a bit about that. There are several cats here who would make good deputies in your place," Sunstar meows, his eyes falling on Thistleclaw. It's possible he looked at Bluefur first, but she'd been watching Mosskit take a tumble down a small mound of snow and hadn't noticed. Now, assured of Mosskit's lack of injury because of the excited gleam in her Oakheart-green eyes and despite the wildness of her mottled gray fur, Bluefur watches Thistleclaw, too, and feels bile rise in her throat—

Blood clumps his spiky fur, drips into the snow, spreads out in an ever-widening puddle—

"You know what you must do," Goosefeather rasps in her ear, causing her to jump. "Or this vision will come to pass."

She shivers and cringes away from him. Sunstar is no longer watching Thistleclaw; as their eyes meet, one of his ears twitches. Bluefur has no idea what it means.

"Time to go back in," she calls to her kits.

They all bundle toward her, mewing in disappointment. "Just a little longer?" "Mosskit tried to bury me!" "No I didn't. I was trying to drag myself out of the snow." Mistykit and Mosskit immediately begin tussling, and Bluefur breaks them apart with a sigh.

She'll take them tonight. Oakheart will be waiting, and she won't stand him up out of misplaced selfishness.

*

"Wake up, darlings," Bluefur whispers into the nursery's warm darkness. "We're going to play a game." They're a heap of gray fur in the middle of the nest. She nudges each of them gently with her nose.

"Sleep, mama," Mistykit mewls, curling into a tighter ball.

"But she said game," Stonekit argues, rousing and stretching.

"That's right," Bluefur meows heavily. "I said there will be a game, but you have to be quiet so no one else wakes up. Can you do that for me?"

Mistykit and Stonekit nod enthusiastically. Mosskit scrambles up after them, far from thrilled.

Bluefur sweeps them ahead of her through the hole she's torn in the side of nursery, out past the dirtplace, and into the forest.

"You didn't say we had to be cold," Mosskit complains. Mistykit agrees, and the two of them try curling up together at Bluefur's feet. So focused is she on keeping them on their paws that she doesn't become aware of the other cat until it's too late.

"Bluefur?"

She stops so suddenly that Stonekit plows into her and bounces backward, landing in a heap and mewling in terror. Mistykit and Mosskit bunch together again beside her.

"Sunstar?" Bluefur's hackles rise. Her heart pounds. Her tail twitches spasmodically in her anxiety.

"I was watching you in the clearing earlier," Sunstar meows, padding forward to brush pelts, carefully maneuvering around the kits, "and I became somewhat suspicious." He sighs. "And then, unusual as it is, I couldn't sleep. Clearly that was best for all of us."

"I need to take them to—" Oh, wait. She can't say— The anxiety is making her tongue heavy and her thoughts sluggish.

"Their father, perhaps?" What? How does he know? Yet she can detect no particular emotion in his meow. His tail his slightly curled. "How did I know?" he asks, as if reading her mind. "First and foremost by the way you assuredly have never looked at Thrushpelt. Now, put your kits back in their nest and come with me, please."

She'll try again tomorrow, Bluefur decides. She has to, for the sake of the Clan. Except that— except that she won't have the chance, will she?

"The game is over, dears," she whispers brokenly. All three droop in relief as she leads them to their empty nest and tucks moss and feathers in around them. She haphazardly patches the hole she tore in the nursery wall to prevent White-eye's awkward questions in the morning, needing to delay this confrontation with Sunstar for as long as she reasonably can.

"Where are you going?" Stonekit, still the most alert of the three, asks plaintively as she finishes her task and pads toward the exit.

"Not far. I'll be back soon." She fervently hopes.

Sunstar stands impatiently in the middle of the clearing, beckoning peremptorily for her to follow. She does so. StarClan, she's failed, she's failed…

"What in StarClan's name were you doing?" Sunstar hisses as soon as the two of them emerge into his den. He crouches at the edge of his nest, his pale ginger coat still oddly flat. "Those kits could have died, Bluefur. What possessed you to take them out like that?"

She's got nothing more to lose, now. "I was taking them to RiverClan, so that I could be deputy rather than Thistleclaw."

Sunstar shreds a swatch of dried bracken between his claws. "Bluefur," he groans.

"Yes?" Her mew is shaky, and oh, she's shivering—

"I never intended to make Thistleclaw deputy." He brushes the bracken aside. "Tawnyspots agreed to hold off retirement until your kits were weaned, at which point we would discuss arrangements for having them watched during the day."

Bluefur blinks. "But—"

"Having kits should not change the direction of a molly's future," he meows firmly. "That said, why didn't you talk to me about your concerns? Is it because you didn't want to admit your less than self-serving ambition?"

When he puts it that way…

"Or was it because you broke the Code and felt you deserved nothing but misery after a singlenight of genuine connection?" He huffs. "I find that entire provision somewhat ridiculous, if you must know." He seems to consider saying more, then thinks better of it. "I don't care who your mate was. I trust you."

"Oakheart," she says.

At this, Sunstar actually laughs, with far more fondness than Bluefur expected. "Who else could it have been?"

Bluefur gets a little hot beneath her fur at the mere thought of Oakheart, then wonders if he's still waiting for her out in the snow to bring the kits.

Sunstar stands, letting his tail briefly rest on her back. "Get some proper sleep, Bluefur. There may be things to worry about, but not right now."

Bluefur shakes her head. There were always things to worry about, never a respite, no matter the time of day.

Sunstar, sensing her doubts, presses against her once more. "There is time, Bluefur. Whatever disasters are in store for us, we have time to prepare now. Please take it. You don't need to add more unnecessary pain. There's quite enough of it already, hmm?"

"Who's to say," she hedges.

"Good answer, and good night, Bluefur." He ushers her from the den with a gentle flick of his tail. She goes gratefully. Her kits, still here with her, are waiting. And theClan's future?

Who's to say, she repeats to herself. Not even StarClan knows all futures. She will make this one for herself.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no plans to write more for this au, but I doubt it would be entirely rosy. Feel free to run with this idea, if you wish.


End file.
